Dante's brush with Persephone
by SecretsofPandora
Summary: Dante meets with Persephone and Hades. Will he take the offer? One shot wonder.


She rushed so as to not be late and her long gossamer gown trailed behind her, white and effervescent, traces of crushed brown leaves at her wake.Lips as red as stained flattened cherries and skin as chaste lily white that seem to compete with heavens purity, no one could mistake who she was and where she belonged. And though she panicked wearily on her path, she kept a careful watch over her shoulder.   
  
The gateway to the underworld was closing she was sure and had to make haste. The darkness was approaching fast, and her feet must make the quickness of speed, as if they possessed wings. Her husband to be awaits her. Glancing above her, where the canopy of trees sheltered her path, thickened and moved as if they were jeering at her predicament and there right before her, the gateway was opening slightly and could hear the music faintly coming to her as if it carried perfume.  
  
Rustling leaves whipped up in a torrent of a whirlwind, brown and green leaves make a flurry of some kind of magical ancient dance. She gasped, her teeth shone pearly white in the dusky evening, her intake of breath coming in as the movement to her left suddenly brought her to a wakeful stream of consciousness. Something was keeping her from going down to her destiny and the sound of howls and night birds sang in the distant horizon. Her hair, dark as midnight looked soft against the backdrop of the coming of the night and her feet, bare, white and dainty nearly tripped over the offending branch that barred her way.   
  
The movement to her left seems to have disappeared; yet, faintly it provoked her eyes to waver in and out, trying desperately to seek the entrance that had opened up her way in. It had been closed! The panic rose in her throat and knowing dreadfully what would come after if she did not make her way down that gateway when the last blink of light drops down the lowly landscape. Coming to a halt, her breath took her away as a dark figure dropped down to where she stood. Midnight hair flew around her as she shook her head, the open fright of the stranger with more clothes than her approached.   
  
"Evening. Going somewhere, babe? Pretty night isn't it?"  
  
A somewhat deep resonant male voice, suspiciously on the verge of laughter and arrogance, drifted to her delicate ears. He was still hidden in the shade of the shadow of the trees and their branches, and the flickering outline of leaves played upon his face. Oddly enough she felt no fear despite the shock of his presence and as he slowly made his way out of the shadowy locale, light from the high moon shone on his white teeth and the glints of his blue eyes held her frozen. Her cobalt eyes flew to his hair, white as lily, unusual and fascinating against the hard strong planes of his face, boyish and masculine. Nearly catching herself to gasp aloud, a rejoinder came out instead.  
  
"What do you want?"   
  
It was her turn to be interested and surprisingly, it came out defiant and regardless of her vulnerability and his obvious strength and bearing. Then she saw his guns at his side, shiny white and another, dark and menacing, both equipped as if he came out from a nineteenth century gunfight but his clothing told otherwise. Red mostly, though not her color, he wore it well and that gave her a bit of smile.   
  
He watched her eyes scanning over his attire and noted that she paused at the weapons that saved his life more times than he could count. Believing this to be somewhat of a miracle that he found her as if out of a fairy tale book caused him to examine her in return, finding that she was as beautiful as they say she would be. No time to waste he thought. Luck was always by his side and took a deep breath as a reply broke their assessment of each other.  
  
"I've come for your husband to be. You know the guy who rules hell right now."  
  
Narrowing her blue eyes, lips rouged red as the color of his clothing, parted and there was a bit of temptation coming from her lowered lids, "Really? Is that so? Hmm."   
  
She nodded and as if in deep contemplation then snapped her eyes back at him,   
  
"What do you want of him? You have stopped me from my destination as you can see. I was on my way to meet him."  
  
The woman pointed towards the gateway which was now closed off, in between the large willowy trees and where the grass turned from bright green to crisp brown. The man facing her started to make a slow saunter around her, looking at her up and down with a slow deliberate ease. Yet he kept watchful eye around him, as if he was used to the quick movements of the night.   
  
"Listen, babe, I don't have time to chit chat right now though you're quite a pleasure to look upon but I think you and I know your darling fiancé wants you far too much to lose you. Seeing you up close, it's not a wonder why he'd want company. Damn, you'd bring the entire realm of hell in mayhem just from the sight of you."  
  
"You take liberties a bit too far, sir, for I am late and you'll have him to face. If you want to put yourself among his kind, be so it that he may have more under his rule. You are not the first to challenge him."  
  
"Maybe so." He winked, "But he's got something I'm supposed to come for."  
  
It was the sound of thunder that startled them to stop their small discussion. The noise rumbled the ground, shifting as if it were a slithering snake, moving beneath, causing them both to unbalance and nearly go down, with the young woman falling face forward on the chest of her stranger. The man with the white hair held her with one arm while his other pointed in the direction where the threat came from. An opening where she was moments ago talking about, the entrance to her hell's gateway and marriage to the lucky groom. Ebony held in his hand did not waver as a figure ascended from the depths of below.  
  
The newcomer came with ease, like a vampire floating on air, and the mists came from nowhere, as if the arrival of the man brought them. His facial features discernible in the darkness but the voice that issued forth was not a friendly tone,  
  
"I believe you have my bride to be?"   
  
The young woman's intake of breath was startling as she took in the sight of her prospective groom and then was glad the man who held her kept her safe. How frightening he looked she raged in her thoughts, this cannot be, to spend the rest of her wintry nights with this man. Looking up at the stranger with the white strands that fell over the flinty steel of his eyes, her voice broke,  
  
"Whoever you are, please save me. I can't go through with this."  
  
"Whoa, hold on there, babe, I'm just here to take something from ole' Hades here." Then looking up at the dark figure, the woman's keeper held his black gleaming gun steady, then lifting his chin towards the other man, continued in his usual cocksure manner,   
  
"You got that? In exchange for her, you bring me the forged weapon. I don't need to tell you which one. I've been expected I'm sure. And if she isn't enough for you to make the barter, my lovely companions will keep you company, round after round."   
  
The sound of his gun clicked, making sure the other understood his price.   
  
"Insolent brash young man." Hades grated through his teeth. "Yes, I have your damned weapon but I didn't think it'd be parted from me this soon. Who sent you?"  
  
The young woman frowned, "What weapon? What is going on here?" then in realization that the white haired man who held her was going to just hand her over to the one who bore a more ominous appearance made her terrified and aware of her dire circumstance. With more urgency, she grabbed hold of his jacket, felt the smooth leather texture and whispered,   
  
"Don't leave me with him. Please take me with you. I cannot bear to live where he will take me."  
  
With an upturned smirk, her would be rescuer replied soothingly, "Don't worry, babe, I won't let you go just yet. I have something to attend to."  
  
Hades took out a weapon; it shone bright and sharp, a tint of sparkle at the edge indicating the sharpness of its metallic clarity. The hell ruler threw the sword over and it held in suspension above them as the mythological god vibrated out with the voice of doom, "Bring her to me now. No trickery, young man."  
  
Before the addressed young man in red could hand over the woman in that long gossamer gown, he stole a quick kiss from her lips, smugly whispering, "Sorry babe but a deals a deal and be it me to change the course of history."  
  
The young woman's blue eyes widened slightly, the taste of his lips still strong as she licked them and her body floated over to her would be husband. Hades was infuriated but the red clad stranger laughed,   
  
"Just wishing her luck, old man, giving her a kiss of luck."   
  
Then he disappeared, with the weapon, a flash into the night, and left the two standing there among the dead leaves and approaching winter wind at their back.   
  
Hades swallowed at the sight of her and she paid no heed to his discomfort, already forgetting the stranger that came between them if only for those few moments.  
  
"Ready to come with me now, Persephone? I've prepared so much for your arrival. You will not be disappointed."  
  
Her shiny blue eyes looked up at her fiancé and finally gave him a slight smile, grasping her situation but she must know something first,   
  
"You were expecting him? Who was that white haired man? Please let us not have secrets between us. I would like to know."  
  
"A demon hunter that is all, my lovely. His name is Dante I believe."  
  
"And the weapon? I don't understand."  
  
Hades brought his fingers to quiet her questions, placing his finger on the softness of her bright red lips and hoping she might forget what had transpired here.   
  
"Shhh, my dearest bride, tis nothing but a weapon from his father."  
  
They made their way to the opening of the gateway below, the sound of the night air bristling among the trees and the high glint of the moon peeked out from the shades of the canopied trees.   
  
Just before they reached to the stairway, Persephone looked back for a moment, remembering the man with hair so white, and if she recalled in that instance, it shone silver when his lips had touched hers. 


End file.
